Vietnam’s cultural tourism market combined strong national recovery with especially visible demand for heritage destinations in 2024. The country recorded 17.58 million international visitors, while cultural and historical attractions in Central Vietnam welcomed substantial holiday and full-year audiences. The figures below separate national totals, source markets, heritage assets, and destination-level measurements so that visitor scale is not confused with cultural-tourism demand alone.
Contents
- National tourism scale in 2024
- International markets and transport
- Cultural heritage supply
- Central Vietnam destination statistics
- Festivals and holiday travel
- Growth, recovery, and tourism targets
National tourism scale in 2024
The Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism’s 2024 annual tourism infographic reported 17.58 million international visitors. A separate summary from the same infographic described the total as more than 17.5 million and measured growth of 39.5% from 2023. This is a national inbound figure, not a count of cultural-tourism visits, but it establishes the size of the visitor pool for museums, historic towns, religious sites, festivals, and heritage landscapes.
Domestic travel was also significant. The tourism industry served 110 million domestic visitors in 2024, and total tourism receipts reached VND 840 trillion, according to the Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism’s annual infographic. The same source reported service-sector value added growth of 7.38% and said services contributed 49.46% of overall GDP growth in 2024.
The 2024 tourism target had been 17 to 18 million international visitors and 110 million domestic visitor trips, according to the Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism’s 2024 tourism targets. The international result therefore sat inside that target range, while the domestic figure matched the stated goal. These totals include all tourism purposes and should not be read as heritage-site admissions.
Shorter measurement periods show how holiday travel contributed to the annual picture. The first quarter of 2024 brought 4.64 million international arrivals and 30 million domestic visitors, according to a Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism update for the GMS Tourism Working Group. During the February 8–14 Lunar New Year holiday, Viet Nam recorded 10.5 million domestic visitor trips, including about 3.5 million overnight visitors. Average room occupancy during that holiday was approximately 45% to 50%.
During the five-day April 30–May 1 holiday in 2024, Viet Nam served about 8 million visitor arrivals, of whom about 3.6 million were overnight visitors, according to the Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism’s holiday update. The annual infographic also reported 3.3 million overnight guests at accommodation establishments and highlighted 5.0 million domestic visitors in its December 2024 month panel. That panel is a monthly measurement and should not be added to the annual domestic total.
International markets and transport
Air travel dominated inbound tourism in 2024. More than 14.8 million international arrivals came by air, equal to 84.4% of all inbound arrivals. Nearly 2.5 million arrived by road, representing 14.2%, while nearly 248,100 arrived by sea, representing 1.4%. These transport shares were reported by the Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism’s 2024 annual tourism infographic.
Asia supplied 79.6% of international arrivals, followed by Europe at 11.3%, the Americas at 5.7%, and Africa at 0.3%. South Korea was the largest individual source market with 4.5 million arrivals, or 25.98% of the international total. China ranked second with 3.7 million arrivals, or 21.26%.
| Source market | 2024 arrivals or change | Measurement |
|---|---|---|
| South Korea | 4.5 million | Arrivals |
| China | 3.7 million | Arrivals |
| Taiwan (China) | 1.29 million | Arrivals |
| United States | 780,000 | Arrivals |
| Japan | 711,000 | Arrivals |
| India | 501,000 | Arrivals |
| Malaysia | 495,000 | Arrivals |
| Australia | 491,000 | Arrivals |
| Cambodia | 475,000 | Arrivals |
| Thailand | 418,000 | Arrivals |
Several markets recorded notable year-on-year changes in 2024. China arrivals grew 214.4% from 2023, Taiwan (China) grew 51.4%, Indonesia grew 74.7%, and the Philippines grew 73.6%. Russia grew 84.9%, Italy grew 55.8%, and Sweden grew 33.0%. South Korea grew 27.1%, Japan 20.7%, the United Kingdom 20.8%, France 29.4%, Germany 24.5%, Spain 20.1%, Denmark 22.1%, and Norway 23.0%.
Growth was more moderate in nearby Southeast Asian markets: Laos rose 23.3%, Cambodia 18.0%, Singapore 5.9%, and Malaysia 5.4%. Thailand was the exception among the listed markets, falling 14.5% from 2023. India rose from 138,000 arrivals in 2022 to 392,000 in 2023 and reached 501,000 in 2024, or 2.6 times its 2022 level. These market changes come from the same Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism annual infographic.
Recovery compared with 2019 was uneven. Australia’s source market reached 128% of its 2019 level in 2024, while the United States reached 105%. Asia overall reached 97% of its 2019 inbound level, and Europe reached 92%. Those are recovery ratios, not forecasts, and they describe inbound market levels rather than cultural-site attendance.
Cultural heritage supply
Vietnam’s potential cultural-tourism inventory is broad. A Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism and Vietnam News Agency report on cultural-religious heritage tourism described around 40,000 tangible heritages and 60,000 intangible heritages. By 2017, UNESCO had recognized 11 intangible cultural heritages in Viet Nam, according to that report.
The same report stated that one-third of Viet Nam’s 62 million domestic tourists visited destinations with spiritual significance in 2016. This is a historical national measurement from 2016, not a 2024 estimate. It indicates the scale of spiritual travel in the earlier period, but it should not be combined directly with the 2024 domestic visitor total because the measurement years and source context differ.
The heritage concentration around Da Nang and Quang Nam is particularly relevant to Central Vietnam travel. The Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism’s Da Nang heritage tourism report counted 565 relics in the two areas: six special national relics, 84 national relics, and 475 municipal relics. The same area had 28 national intangible cultural heritages, one UNESCO-recognized intangible cultural heritage of humanity, and one UNESCO-recognized documentary heritage for the Asia-Pacific region.
That Central Vietnam heritage area also contained two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Hoi An Ancient Town and My Son Sanctuary, plus the Cham Islands–Hoi An World Biosphere Reserve. These designations describe the area’s cultural and environmental assets; they are not visitor totals.
Hung Yen provides another example of the depth of the national heritage base. A Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism article reported 182 cultural, historical, artistic, and architectural sites there. The Pho Hien Special National Site included 20 national sites, 25 provincial sites, more than 100 steles, and thousands of valuable artifacts. These figures are inventory counts rather than annual visitation measures.
Central Vietnam destination statistics
Hue tourism welcomed approximately 3.9 million visitors in 2024, according to the Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism’s Hue market analysis. The total included nearly 1.4 million international visitors and 2.5 million domestic visitors. Hue’s total visitor count was nearly 22% higher than in 2023; its international count was nearly 17% higher, and its domestic count was 25% higher.
The city’s historical sites and attractions drew about 100,000 visitors during the nine-day Tet period from February 7 to February 15, 2024, according to a Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism report on the Hue surge during Tet. This shorter period is an attraction measurement and should not be mistaken for Hue’s full-year visitor total.
My Son Sanctuary, one of the area’s two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, welcomed nearly 446,000 visitors in 2024 and earned VND 71.5 billion in revenue, according to the Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism’s My Son Sanctuary report. About 90% of its 2024 visitors were international tourists. The strongly international visitor mix distinguishes the sanctuary’s reported audience from Hue’s larger domestic base.
Quang Nam recorded 103,000 tourist arrivals during the 2024 New Year holiday, according to Quang Nam News in a report cited by the Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism. Of those arrivals, 91,000 were international and 12,000 were domestic. Four- and five-star hotels near Hoi An’s Old Quarter reported occupancy of 80% to 90% during the same New Year holiday. These numbers cover a holiday period, not the whole province’s annual performance.
| Destination or area | Visitors or asset count | Period or scope |
|---|---|---|
| Hue | 3.9 million visitors | Full year 2024 |
| My Son Sanctuary | Nearly 446,000 visitors | Full year 2024 |
| Quang Nam | 103,000 arrivals | New Year holiday 2024 |
| Hue historical sites | About 100,000 visitors | February 7–15, 2024 |
| Da Nang and Quang Nam | 565 relics | Reported heritage inventory |
Festivals and holiday travel
Da Nang welcomed 402,000 visitors during Tet 2024, 37% more than during the same period in 2023, according to the Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism’s Da Nang Tet report. Nearly 177,000 of those visitors were foreigners. Tourism revenue during the holiday was about VND 1,580 billion.
Transport activity was also measured during Da Nang’s seven-day Tet period. The city recorded 777 domestic and international flights, an average of 111 flights per day. Of the daily average, 58 were domestic flights and 53 were international flights. Three cruise ships brought 3,400 international guests to Tien Sa Port. Sightseeing boat tours on the Han River carried 21,680 visitors, up 50% from 2023.
In Ho Chi Minh City, the annual Tet Festival in 2024 featured more than 100 booths and was expected to draw more than 80,000 visitors. More than 80 businesses participated, according to the Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism and Saigon Giai Phong. The city’s District 8 floating flower market was expected to attract nearly 654 stalls and boats. These are event-scale and participation figures, not citywide tourism totals.
Festival programming was also part of national destination planning. Hanoi planned more than 50 cultural and tourism events in 2024 and set a goal of 27 million visitors, including 5.5 million foreign visitors. The Get on Hanoi 2024 event used 300 drones in its light show. These were plans and event specifications reported by the Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism, so they should not be treated as achieved visitor counts unless explicitly identified above.
Dien Bien’s Visit Viet Nam Year 2024 featured nearly 170 programmes and events. The province aimed to welcome 1.3 million visitor arrivals and generate VND 2,200 billion in tourism receipts. Its year-end report later stated that 2024 tourism revenue exceeded VND 3,321 billion, about 1.9 times the 2023 result. The target figures are forecasts or goals; the revenue figure is a reported year-end outcome.
Growth, recovery, and tourism targets
The 2024 national results sit within a longer recovery timeline. In the official 2019 tourism report, annual inbound arrivals were reported as 18,008,591 and growth from 2018 was 16.2%. The same report also listed a separate total of 15,497,791 inbound arrivals and monthly figures including 1,430,242 in January, 1,431,845 in February, 1,343,314 in March, and 1,341,913 in April.
The 2019 monthly series continued with 1,161,114 arrivals in May, 1,183,102 in June, 1,188,817 in July, 1,323,546 in August, 1,212,597 in September, 1,205,157 in October, 1,301,909 in November, and 1,374,235 in December. Because the 2019 report contains both an annual total of 18,008,591 and another stated total of 15,497,791, the figures should be preserved as reported rather than reconciled through unsupported arithmetic. They are legacy figures and were not independently verified here.
Looking ahead from the 2024 annual infographic, the national 2025 target was 22 to 23 million international visitors. That is a target range, not an observed result. For cultural-tourism planning, the most useful distinction is therefore between national arrivals, destination visitation, event attendance, heritage inventories, and forward-looking goals. Central Vietnam’s 2024 figures show all five categories operating at once: Hue’s nearly 3.9 million visitors, My Son’s nearly 446,000 visitors, Quang Nam’s 103,000 New Year arrivals, Da Nang’s 402,000 Tet visitors, and the region’s 565 recorded relics each describe a different part of the cultural travel system.